On Wednesday, April 8, 2020 at 5:54:18 PM UTC+3, Eli Kesef wrote:

Bs"d

After I lost my queen I played on, after all I got a castle and a horse for it, so I went down only one point:  https://lichess.org/LS6pb5FEgVIa

Then, at the end of the game, I made a nasty horse fork which netted me a full castle, and it was me, even without my queen, who had a comfortable material advantage.   Then, two moves later, the same horse forked both king and queen, and the opponent resigned.

https://tinyurl.com/4k-with-u

Bs"d

While looking at the above game again, (without Stockfish) I see that I went through the eye of the needle.  First, on move 40 I played Be4, and that was a big blunder, because the castle could just take the bishop, because the pawn that protected it was pinned by the queen on the king.  I saw that right after I moved, but fortunately the opponent didn't see it.    Then when I made the first fork, same story.  I forked king and castle, but the queen could simply have taken the horse, because the bishop guarding it, was pinned on the king by the castle.  Also this the opponent didn't see.    Me neither, until after the game.

Just another blunderfull game.  

https://tinyurl.com/blunders-all-there

Bs"d

So on move 26 I set him up for a horse fork, and I did the same on move 32. After the second fork he got the picture, and resigned

https://tinyurl.com/4k-with-u

Bs"d

Once during a tournament, the opponent of Nimzowitsch took out a cigarette case and put on the chess table. Nimzowitsch hated cigarette smoke and called the director and filed a complaint.
The director said, "He has not lit a cigarette and there is no smoke. So your complaint is noted but it is not valid."
“I know”, Nimzowitsch replied, “but he threatens to smoke, and you know as well as I that in chess the threat is often stronger than the execution”.

Threats are nasty things, but the most nasty threat is the threat of a nasty horse fork. In this game: https://lichess.org/eMCvcAwSoHAo I was on the good side of such a threat. After I sacrificed a castle in exchange for a bishop and a pawn in front of the enemy king's castling fortress, I got this nice position in which after a check I might get this nasty horse fork. I was not totally sure I would get this position, because, as always, the possibilities were too many for my feeble brain to oversee, but the sacrifice looked good so I invested a castle, and hoped and prayed for the best.
Thank God, I did get the best, and the only acceptable way to get out of the check would leave him wide open for a gruesome fork upon his king an queen. I admit, there were a few possibilities for him to avoid this fork, one was by blocking the check with his queen, after which my castle would take his queen. Another option to avoid the nasty horse fork was to push the resign button, which was the path that my opponent took.

Chalk up another one for the good guy!

https://tinyurl.com/threat-stronger

Bs"d

In this game https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox a royal fork forking the king and queen ended the game.

Amazing how often horse forks decide the game.

On my level a horse is a lot stronger than a bishop, because of those sneaky forks which pop up all over the place.

http://tinyurl.com/board-4k

On Sunday, January 24, 2021 at 12:30:13 AM UTC+2, Eli Kesef wrote:

Bs"d

In this game https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox a royal fork forking the king and queen ended the game.

Amazing how often horse forks decide the game.

On my level a horse is a lot stronger than a bishop, because of those sneaky forks which pop up all over the place.

http://tinyurl.com/board-4k

Bs"d

Sorry, wrong link. Here is the right one. (I hope) https://lichess.org/N9xs5dm3sTaP

On Sunday, January 24, 2021 at 12:51:42 PM UTC+2, Eli Kesef wrote:

On Sunday, January 24, 2021 at 12:30:13 AM UTC+2, Eli Kesef wrote:

Bs"d

In this game https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox a royal fork forking the king and queen ended the game.

Amazing how often horse forks decide the game.

On my level a horse is a lot stronger than a bishop, because of those sneaky forks which pop up all over the place.

http://tinyurl.com/board-4k

Bs"d

Sorry, wrong link. Here is the right one. (I hope) https://lichess.org/N9xs5dm3sTaP

Bs"d

I didn't hope hard enough. I'll try this again. Sooner or later I should be successful: https://lichess.org/N9xs5dm3sTaP